My driveway is not level by any stretch of the imagination. We do not store our RoadTrek in the driveway but do of course for a couple days prior to a trip.
This doesn't present a problem except of course for the refrigerator. Right now, our plan is to keep it off, and keep all food in our home refrigerator, transferring it in the morning right before we leave. Do we stand a chance starting with cold food, of the refrigerator "catching up" while driving for a few hours and keeping everything cold? Is it best to go with 12V or 120V setting while driving?
But my real question is, does anyone know a ramp type product that I could drive the wheels onto, then jack up to level the rig? I am aware of the old ramps that you can drive onto, but was thinking perhaps there were newer options that could be jacked up from flat.
jeffcarp wrote: My driveway is not level by any stretch of the imagination. We do not store our RoadTrek in the driveway but do of course for a couple days prior to a trip.
This doesn't present a problem except of course for the refrigerator. Right now, our plan is to keep it off, and keep all food in our home refrigerator, transferring it in the morning right before we leave. Do we stand a chance starting with cold food, of the refrigerator "catching up" while driving for a few hours and keeping everything cold? Is it best to go with 12V or 120V setting while driving?
But my real question is, does anyone know a ramp type product that I could drive the wheels onto, then jack up to level the rig? I am aware of the old ramps that you can drive onto, but was thinking perhaps there were newer options that could be jacked up from flat.
Thank you.
Sorry to tell you, but these 3-way fridges have very slow recovery times (think as much as 24, not a few hours). After checking out the photo of your driveway, I would recommend parking at the curb if you can the night before. Use a few 2"x8" blocks to increase the passenger side wheels to level and put the fridge on propane for the night.
If you have an inverter, I recommend driving on 120VAC as I do. The 120VAC is free power and the fridge performs better on 120VAC than 12VDC. Many of find that the propane will blow out while on the road.
Don is correct about the recovery times on absorption type refrigerators. However, you should be able to get away with packing it with cold food and starting out. I would be sure to stuff the freezer ice or frozen food. We have used milk cartons filled with water and placed in the lower compartment. You can pack it with ice the night before with the unit off and put the food in the next morning before you leave and turn it on. Leave as much ice in it as you have room for. If you can get the unit cold to begin with there is not much problem keeping it that way. This way you don't have to worry about leveling it the night before.
Wayne, the old curmudgeon
Our driveway also slopes. We do not turn our refrigerator on until we are ready to leave. I use Blue Ice packs (they are a different size than pictured; about 8 inches by 4 inches) and I place them in the refrigerator around the food. I can fit four of them in our little freezer and we re-use them.
Even in the Texas heat we have never had a problem getting the refrigerator to get cold. We run it on propane.
Also, we were told not to run the (window type) air conditioner on a slope.
Marilyn w/ Joe, 2000 Xplorer Class B van, usually pulling a Ranger bass boat.
Smudge, (in photo) a Shih Tzu/Yorkie Mix and Gizmo is waiting at the Rainbow Bridge
I may be wrong, but I thought the slow recovery time was limited to when the fridge was operating in propane mode. You can run it on 12v while driving, or run a long cord and plug the RV into electric for a few hours before departing.
I needed 10" for mine - built 'em out of 2 x 8's (probably should have used 2 x 10's due to tire width)... relatively inexpensive and worked well, but were pretty heavy.
Just don't drive over 'em.
Probably a better idea would be a pair of ramps - the kind ya get at parts stores to allow driving onto for DIY oil changes.
I'd imagine you'd pick up at least 8" using the ramps?
I need to get a pair... Handbasket seems to like his....
I was in WalMart in the auto dept. getting oil last night, and saw the gray plastic drive-on Rhino 12,000 lb.* capacity ramps that I've often mentioned. Less than $29, and as good for 'B' DIY wrench-twisting as you'll find, IMO. IIRC, I paid about $40 at the auto parts store, several years ago.
Hmmm... a review at Amazon says the actual 'cradled' height is just 6"... but I'm sure they are safer (raised lip to prevent driving too far) and lighter (plastic vs lumber).
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